Brookings Institution fellow briefs anti-Israel group gathering

A high profile Brookings Institution senior fellow participated Sunday in a national gathering outside Washington, D.C. of an anti-Israel group, which pushes for a boycott and economic divestment from the Jewish state, Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) reported.

In his comments Sunday, Telhami made no endorsement of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign, but summarized polling he did during the past year on American attitudes on U.S. policy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Increasingly, he said, there is a partisan divide, with data showing Democrats are more likely to want the U.S. to be even-handed rather than favor Israel or the Palestinians. When it comes to United Nations votes on establishing a Palestinian state, 53 percent of Republicans want the United States to continue voting against it. But only 19 percent of Democrats would want the U.S. to vote against it.

More than 80 percent of Democrats say they favor Israel’s democracy over its status as a Jewish state. A majority of Republicans, 57 percent, agreed.

Telhami does not ask specific questions about BDS in his polls, he said in a December interview.

“While Telhami took no position about the conference’s mission, his presence granted legitimacy upon the US Campaign and its mission. That mission includes isolating Israel politically and economically by pushing for a boycott on Israeli products, academic cooperation, pressuring corporations, and universities to divest from companies doing business in Israel, “IPT stated.